The Sun. — London, England, 1864-03-26 00:00:00

gons conveying fugitives from doomed Sonderborg and their goods and chattels encumbered the quaye --- 4- LFrom the limes Special, Correspondent with the Danish Irrny.) DANISH HEADQUARTERS, SONDERBORG, March 18. The Prussian cannonade goes on daily, and with such humdrum regularity that we should miss it were it abruptly to cease. There is method and routine in the German's way of going to work. His programme of one day is observed punctually in the proceedings of the morrow, and it is more or less as follows :—ln the morning,at very earliest dawn, the good Prussian fires off two or three of his heaviest guns. This is by way of a reveille, and simply urn die canonen ausblasen eta lassen, to get red of the evening's last charge, which may have got damp in the night. The artilleryman then peaceably lights his pipe, and boils his kettle for his morning coffee. A couple of hours more is employed in inquiring, musically, and on Professor Arndt's strain, "What is the German's Fatherland ?" to find out whether Holstein, Schleswig, and perhaps even Jutland, are not included within its shadowy boundaries. By and by, es the clock strikes 10, the corporal sum mons his men back from the land of dreams, and the work begins in earnest. Then comes the time to awaken the hundred echoes of this sea-indented shore, and to make every pa ne of glass rattle in our windows. It is boom, boom, boom, just at the rate of about three discharges every five minutes. The air is, and has been since the game began, pure and lovely beyond all powers of description. It freezes hard in the night yet, but the days are long, and the sun is warm and vivid. Ineffable calmness has succeeded the three or four days' stormy gales that shook us so rudely last week. Such faint breeze as there is is westerly, and every breath from the scene of action brings us the music of that heavy artillery lingering in the elastic air with a sweetness that no concert or chamber music can equal. Outside, in the fields, along the sea, in the woods, all is life, end quiet, and love. The lark soars up buoyant and gleeful, and is long audible after it has become ins visible. There is a chirp in every bush, a carol on every hedge, though not a trace of green, hardly an opening bud or swelling kitkat, is anywhere seen. The spring teems everywhere in the lap of nature, afraid yet, though almost ready, to burst forth with all the concentrated strength of a Northern climate, compelled as it is to make up by rapid development for the shortness of its existence. In the midst of this still, yet strong, heaving of life all round us the sudden puff of smoke bursting now from this end now from that cliff on the Broagerland coast, and the deep thunder following at more than a mintre's interval upen every flash, nay, the very hissing, fizzing noise of the shells in the air seem scarcely to disharmonize with the loveliness of the happy scene, and strikes us almost as a mere play or spec tacle got up to enhance its glorious beauty. We look on and listen in a perfect rapture of delight. Presently the sun has reached the meridian, and the Prussian strikes work to attend to the great business of the day. There is peace and silence at meal times, at his noontide dinner, and his Vier uhr-Brod. After eating ho becomes torpid. The work of digestion puts him in good humour with the whole world. His pipe is relighted, and even if the cannon is reloaded, the fire is slack and lazy, the cannonier visibly yawning and even napping between one discharge and another. Since Thursday last, in short, next to nothing has been done. The damage to the Danish bastions has been trifling, the casualties by no means heavy, though a shell killed yesterday a captain of infantry and his lieutenant. The Danes make to attempt to answer the fire from Broagerland, as the enemy lies almost beyond reach of their old-fashioned pieces, and rather turn all their efforts against the Avnbjerg and Dybbol village, to disturb, if possible, the work of the enemy lodged there since the unlucky affair of Thursday last. For, it would be vain to dissemble it, our present calmness and security may in the end prove to have been deceitful, and since the unlucky affair of Thursday last our position seems to many less safe than it appeared before the terrible power of the Prussian artillery was fully tested. No one hero doubts that the ground that was so lately lost at Avnbjerg and at the village of Dybbol will soon become the basis of operations for the enemy, and the batteries are at this present moment being hastily reared both upon those points and on the wooded crests of the Ragebol hills. Should the work be completed, as it doubt less will be, unless the Danes can venture on a desperate attempt to dislodge the enemy, the fire from those new approaches will have a far different effect from the mere semblauce of a cannonade from Broagsrle.nd, which the Prussians keep up almost for the mere purpose of lulling their adversaries to sleep. The cannon from the cliffs at Broagerland has only to throw its projectiles about two and a half English miles, to sweep over the whole line of Danish bastions from No. Ito No. 10. It has only to aim at the windmills, the church, and the castle of Sondefloorg, to shower its shells upon us within a mile and a half range. Still even these distances are a protection ; but what will it be when the thunder shall roar against the Danish line from the Avnbjerg, placed as it is at only two-thirds of the mile from the Dylebolshill batteries, or from Ragebol, which is nearly as cicso to them Truly, it may be that so great a proximity may prove instrumental towards making the Danish smooth-mores a match for the Prussian rifled cannon ; but the superiority of aim and strength will still tell in favour of the latter, and when the cannonade begins the Danes will have to hold their own by the utmost stretch of their heroic valour and endurance. Most of the officers here, however, even while admitting the possibility of the Dybbol position being taken, contend that it would always be pos sible, and even easy, to defend the island for any length of time. For my own part, I wish with all my heart that the thing may be as they describe it, but it seems impossible to believe that, once in pos session of the Dybbol heights, of Dybbol windmill, and all that line, the enemy would be long detained by the batteries and the palisades of the tete-de-pont. :From the heights of Dybbol mill the Prussians would exchange shots with the church battery, the castle battery, and other works round about Sender borg, at about half an English mile's distance, and it is by no means impossible that they may so sweep everything before them that no other obstacle should rise against their crossing over to the island than the 120 or 150 yards of the Sound spanned now by the two pontoon bridges. Those bridges, of course, would not be left for an enemy's accommo dation; but the Germans might, perhaps, be at no great loss to replace them. What defence the Danes could offer on the island itself remains to be seen ; but, in the event of their being overpowered, their retreat by sea would he easily assured. All the shipping was removed from the little harbour of Sonderborg, as 1 told you in my last letter, from the very first danger apprehended in consequence of the bombardment of Tuesday last. The port no less than the town is so utterly at the mercy of the Prussian artillery that even the mail steamer can no longer attempt to come in sight of land ; but at the rear of Sonderborg, far away from the range of Prussian cannon, the Danes have a most magnifis cent harbour, called Horuphav, formed by a long fiord or inlet of the sea, somewhat more than eight :English miles i n l engt h , and l i ttle less than one mile broad at its narrowest point, with a depth of more than 400 feet of water, vast enough and safe enough to harbour the whole of the Danish fleet. This fiord is formed by the sout h ern s h ore of the isle of Al se e, and by the little Peninsula of bait aces, or cget iess, as the Germans call it—a peninsula en the cistern side to the main port of the island by the narrowest, lowest elip of sandy land imaginable at Kairw 3 Fyr. The mouth of the hay, or haven, opens to t he west, and is very nearly opposite to the mou th cf the v, r nmingbund and th e coast o f t h e Broagerland, but it lies at no less than tour English miles distant from the latter, consequently beyond reach even of the formidable Pru sign artillery. I rode out yesterday fur the first time to see this wonderfully beautifut sheet of water, which seems fitter by neture to b. come one of the best naval estabiis rnetits in the world. I saw a very brisk stir of men and t hi ngs at t h e s pot more properly called Horuphav, the place where two or three excel lent piers, some of them lately constructed, enable the steamers to load and unload with the greatest esee and rapidity. A throng of carriages and wag- ,urn tail ? and all the roads, lanes, and openings ~ding to chem. They were all making off, some friendly houses in Fallen or Zealand, others any whither, with no proper object or destination, only anxious to be away. If the supreme hour is to come and the ground at Dybbol and Sonderborg to be fought for inch by inch, it is just as well that the army should be rid of all the encumbrance of non-combatants. The worst of it is, however, that only the craven, the selfish, the persons in good health, and with plenty of means at command, join in this harum scarnm exodus. A great many are left behind, some in the sheer impossibility, some from stubborn unwillingnes3 to quit the spot. I have taken up my quarters in a private house (the Reymuth's Hotel being basely broken up and deserted), and I am living alone with an old woman and her Baugh• ter, who seem to think as little of shells and grenades as a wire-masked pierrot or harlequin at Milan or Naples of the sugar plums with which he is pelted at the Corso. Where women show so heroic a contempt of danger should I be the one to It is astonishing, also, to see how, in the midst of all this din of war, which certainly threatens Son derborg and its environs with utter destruction, and is possibly fraught with grave calamities and final ruin to the State of Denmark, the routine of life goes on, undisturbed and placid, not from mere dogged stubbornness and the resolution of despair, but from mere habit and dull sloth and apathy, con centrating its attention upon the tack immediately on hand, driving off' all thought of impending danger, and putting off the evil day with the in stinctive aversion to change which is characteristic of the human mind in the common run, We have all seen a dog lyinglazily in the sun upon a thronged thoroughfare, apparently so soundly asleep as tohe deaf to the thundering voice and cracking whip of the driver, who would rather not crush the poor brute. But only wait till the very horse's hoof almost brushes the:shaggy coat of the rash sleeper, and np he will be and out of harm's way in the twinkling of an eye, soon to lie down again in as dangerous a spot, with the like improvidence, and to escape as imminent a danger with the same nimbleness and presence of mind. Not otherwise these poor curs of the lower classes of Sonderborg. Shells fell among them on Thursday last, and great was their uproar and flurry. But the cannon turned its mouth else where, and they slunk back to Voeir kennels, and there they stick, tinkering, cobbling, peddling, cooking, washing, and doing wnat they had to do, heedless of the day (which may be to morrow or this very afternoon) when shells snail shower dow❑ again among them as thick as hail, when their mean hovels shall crumble about their ears, and when they shall scamper away head over heels, and heels over heads, howling and yelping, unable to take care of themselves at the twelfth hour as they were to exer cise their judgment and foresight at the eleventh. A fine and large battalion of the King's Foot Guards, with their bearskins and in their long and rough overcoats, have just this moment come in from Copenhagen. The supreme conflict that seems imminent will probably give them enough to do. I have walked along their whole line as they stood mustered up on the main Street of the town, with their band of musicians at their head. They may be about 1,000 men, and better soldiers as to bulk, mien, bearing, and real physical strength I do not believe can be seen even among the crack regiments of the Queen's Household Brigade. Indeed, I think they " beat the whole world" as to mere show, and I have no doubt the substance will, on a trial, be found to correspond with the appearance. EVENING. The Prussians have opened fire from the summit of the Avnbjerg. It was only to try the range of their guns, and they have as yet only field. pieces on their position. The fire to-day ceased altogether at 2 o'clock. The casualties for the whole day, on the Danish side, were only 11 men and one officer wounded. The complaints of the Danes about the conduct of the Austrian soldiery in Jutland are both loud and very general. I know not to what extent I may believe all I am told, but I believe it to be my duty to report what I hear. In Veile the soldiery plundered shops and houses like very brigands, In Jellinge, near that place, they drove out the parson and schoolmaster of the village, and pressed not only the peasants but even the young pupils cf a theological college to work in the trenches against Fredericia, exposing them to the Danish fire in the most advanced position. RAILWAY INTEI LIGENCE. TRAFFIC RICEIPIS FOR THE WEEK• Miles Opened. Receipt& Railways, 1864. 1863. - 1864. Belfast and N. Counties 135 136 1,865 Belfast and County Down 49 49 070 myth and Tyne 2B 28 1,963 Bristol and Exeter l2ll 1211 5,611 Caledonian Cockermouth& Workington Bl 8/ 262 Cork and Bandon ^o 20 312 Cork, Blackrock, & Passage 6l 6 1 123 Cork and Youghal 321 32/ 442 Cornwall Deeside l7 17 201 Dublin & Belfast Junction Dublin and Drogheda 75 63 1,377 Dublin and Meath Dub. & Wicklow and Wextd 9ll 485 2,060 Edinburgh and Glasgow 173 1695 7,621 Furness, &c Glasgow & South-Western Gt. Eastern,Nrik~&E.Union Great Northern 353 851 31.1e3 Great North of Scotland 6B 58 1,596 (it. Northn. & Wcstn. (Irel.) 7ll 714 519 rit.Southn. & Westn.(lrind.) 3731 329 7,112 Great Western 10561 10561 58,090 Inverness & Aberdeen Junc B6/ 861 925 Inverness & Perth Junction 1194 - 930 Irish North-Western 145 115 1,378 Lancashire & Yorkshire 402 8954 35,480 Limerick and Ennis... 244 24 192 Limerick and Foynes 268 26 05 Llanelly 464 464 605 Londen & North-Western London and Blackwall 54 5 . 1,732 London & South-Western Lond. Brighton, &S. Coast 261 t 2591 15,203 London, Chatham, & Dover 7 25 725 4,304 Do. Metropolitan Extension 104 51 1100 Loud., Tilbury, & Southend - - Man.,Sheflield.&Lincolnsh Manch. S.J un.& Altrincham 95 94 1,265 1,082 Maryport and Carlisle Metropolitan Midland (incl. N.-Western) 641 6570 44,176 34,426 Midland Gt.Westn. of 'rind 2591 2591 4,731 4,5 5 slonkland Monmouthsh. Rail. & Canal 44 44 2,711 2,432 North British, Edin., Perth and Dundee N-Eastern and Stock. & Dart 1005 10791 North London 9 9 North Stalibrdshire 254 254 Oswestry and Newton...- 5O 42 Rhymney l9/ 191 St. Helen's Canal & Railway 62 62 Scottish Central Scottish North-Eastern l3B 128 Somerset and Dorset 66 391 South Devon South-Eastern ....... ......... 306 306 Taff Vale 57 57 Ulster lO3l 1051 Vale of C1wyd........: lO 10 Vale of Neath 324 251 Waterford and Kilkenny 3l 31 Waterford and Limerick 77 77 West Cornwall 271 271 W.lisiztlepoolllarbr.&Rail. 52 52 Whaven,Cleator,& Egrmnt:: 7 7 Whitehaveu Junction l3 13 Whitehaven & Furness Jun •• • 35 35 FOREIGN AND COLON IAL . Antwerp and Rotterdam 52 52 Austrian Belgian Eastern Junction 26 2' 1 -/ Bombay, Baroda, & Cen. India 18 167 Buffalo and Lake Huron l6l 1615 Detroit and Milwaukie lB9 189 Dutch Rhenish Eastern Bengal Eastern of France East Indian Grand Trunk of Canada lO9O 1090 Great Indian Peninsula 5 3 495 Great Luxembourg 4 134 Great re a t Western Southern of ff Canada,lndia . 3 3 7 3 4 9 5 3 7 3 1 9 1 5 Madras ........ Madrid, Saragossa &Alicant 551 4 9 90 1 Northern of Canada ... ..... Northern of France 697 697 - N orweg ian Trunk Ottoman Paris, Lyons, & Mediterrn lBO5 1713 127,770 123840 Paris and Orleans ........... Pernambuco Royal Danish Sambre and Meuse CS AR 1,443 1.498 South Austrian Southern of France 770 560 25,416 21.073 Victorian 196 106 8,923 0,767 Welland - 25 25 - - West Flanders W. and N.W. of France 1,903 628 1,6‘.8 6,46: 15.735 2h 312 285 1,265 276 1,2141 1,504 8,047 2,766 7,519 23,059 27,642 2,074 473 7,758 55,632 980 30,770 MO 81,909 1,651 19.186 11.380 2 863 310 11,508 10.906 51,971 17,107 3,572 2,901 8,705 7,709 1,156 911 975 964 2,128 1,978 4,850 4,607 4,720 1.695 531 363 3.310 3,210 18,166 17,026 5,943 4,499 2,331 2,172 177 15 0 2,652 2,035 244 328 974 1,202 760 790 3,8,5 3,374 740 853 1,125 771 1,11,2 769 1,2 9 1,1 28 33,001 32,750 303 268 3,501 1,939 2,263 2,118 4,555 3,699 4,489 3,789 1,6 9 9 CO, 89 51,466 23,972 13,905 18,b0t 18,537 12,69) 9,411 4,207 4,108 429 6 3 14,533 14,324 3,96 3,377 16,452 16,2 7 2,219 1,960 NORTH BRITI3Ir. The half -yearly meeting was held at Edinburgh on Wednesday, Mr. Hodgson, M.P., in the chair. The report was held as read. The CIIAIRMAN congratulated the shareholders on the increase- in the weekly traffic returns, which had en,bled the directors to raise the dividend from 11 to la- per cent. They had still a good many drawbacks to contend with. At Carlisle the Citadel Station Committee threw impediments in the way of their traffic; the London and North-Western de clined to,book through to certain stations, and the west coabt =agonies hdd attempted to bring the THE WAR IN DENMARK. THE SAN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, MARCH 26, 18M. earnings of the Border Union, the central line, under the Scotch and English Traffic Agreement, which re- iated only to the e a st and west coast ro tee, and had been entered into before the Border Union was con structed. By means of a bill now before Parliament this company hoped to obtain an independent access to the Citadel station, and the North-Eastern had very handsomely offered them such facilities over their line that this company would have to construct only about 1,000 yards of line to effect that entrance. In this way they would get rid of the exorbitant toll imposed by the Caledonian, and would be enabled to start their trains when they pleased. The North British hoped, through the efforts of the Midland, to get a joint lease with the London and North Western of the Lancaster and Carlisle, to obtain a freer outlet for their traffic than they had yet had to the south of Carlisle; and as to the Border Union revenue they stood in the same position as the Midland in regard to its Ingleton route, and he felt sure that neither company would yield to the unjust and absurd claims made upon their earnings. The development of the Border Union line had been re tarded by a portion of the line being single, and the company's engineer was now engaged in doubling it. The directors had made considerable progress in the establishment of steamboat communication from Port Silloth, and they hoped Parliament would before long remove all obstructions to railway com panies being themselves the proprietors of steam• boats. The directors had petitioned against the Amalgamation Bill of the Caledonian and other companies, but so strongly had the public, and espe cially tho mercantile classes, opposed the measure, that it was thrown out before reaching the com mitee. But the present joint purse system of the three companies was nearly as injurious to the public and to North British interests, and therefore the directors rejoiced to see a bill brought in fora new line from Edinburgh to Giasgow,e practicable,useful,and cheap railway, which would fill up the gap between this company's system and the city of Glasgow. Con nected with this scheme was the project for spanning the Firth of Forth by a viaduct 2 miles above Queens ferry. Should this scheme be found a practicable one, and should Parliament be satisfied that it could be carried out for anything like the cost named for its construction, he would much rather than expending £150,000 in new railway and pier works and steamers at Queensferry give £200,000 tc aid the erection of the Forth bridge. The only extension lines they had before Parliament this Session were the Abbey holme branch to connect the Port Silloth with the Mary port and Carlisle lime, a line of four miles traversing a coalfield, end a new access to Perth station, in place of using the Scottish Cen tral tunnel, for which they had to pay a heavy toll. They were very anxious to enlarge and improve Waverley-bridge station at Edinburgh. Mr. SPORT, vice chairman, seconded the adoption of the report which was unanimously agreed to. Resolutions declaring the preference dividends and for carrying out the other business detailed in the report wore unanimously adopted, and the re tiring directors and auditor were re-elected. The meeting was then made special, and the agreeement for working the Leadburn, Linton, and Dolphinton line was approved. SCOTTISH CENTRAL. The half-yearly meeting was held at Perth on Wednesday, Mr. R. Bruce in the chair. The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the report, said the not increase of revenue from all sources was £9,095, due partly to the opening of the Highland Railway to Inverness, partly to the acquisition of the Dundee and Perth line, and partly to general causes of prosperity. 0 wing to this fortunate condition of matters the directors had been enabled to add 1 per cent, to the dividend, making it 61 per cent., besides carrying over a con siderable surplus. In paying the 2 per cent. gusranteEd on the Dundee and Perth this company had not incurred any loss, and the din:eters were now engaged in placing that line in the same condition as the main line, SO as to run express trains on it with equal speed. A. loss of £1,656 had been incurred through the combustion of a quantity of petroleum, which had not only ignited the whole train in which the fire took place, but destroyed a fiAd of wheat. Were it not for that accident the dividend might have been at the rate of 61 per cent. The directors were pro moting a bill to improve their stations at Perth and Dundee; they had effected considerable improve ments on South Alio% harbour, to which Baltic ships now came up ; and they had come to an amicable arrangement with the Scottish North It] istern for the Newtyle and Alyth extension. They had peti tioned against the North British Bill for a new tun nell access to Perth, which was unnecessary and would cost an enormous sum. • Mr. MACDUFF seconded the adoption of the re port, which was unanimously agreed to, and the retiring directors and auditor were re-elected. GREAT NORTH OF SCOTLAND. The report of the directors states that the tota revenue for the half-year ending the 31st January amounted to £54,811, including £8,090 dividends and interest received on investments in other com panies, and £17,738 expended in working and for rates and taxes, £325 rent of the o.d Meldrum Junction, and £8,401 for interest, &c., on loans, leaving £28,347. To which was added £1,803 pro fit on rails purchased and sold, and £2,729 from the preceding half year, making £32,880. Out of this was deducted £15,075 for dividends on the 4 per cent. preference stock at the rate of 5 per oent. per annum, and £6,921 for the proposed dividend on the original stock at toe rate of 5 per cent. per annum, leaving a balance of £3,606. The decrease in the traffic receipts, as compared with the corre sponding half year, was attributed to the depres sion in the agricultural districts accommodated by the railway, to the reduction of goods rates, and to the opening of the Highland line. The total decrease amounted to £3,784, which the directors were confident would be speedily compensated when the prosperity of the district was restored. The working expenses amounted to 41 per cent. of the gross receipts. The average rate of interest on the company'a debentures was slightly under 4 per cent. Twenty-one miles of the line had been relaid with new rails, which were fish jointed. From the com pletion of the Strathspey line a gross revenue had been thrown upon the main line between Aberdeen and Keith of nearly £B,OOO a year. The company were now in possession of nearly one-half the Dee side stock. The Scottish North . Eastern Railway had introduced a bill in Parliament for power to make a junction between their line and t of the Great North of Scotland at Aberdeen, b hat val y the ley of the Denburn. The capital account showed that £1,779,978 had been received to the 31st January last, and £1,661,11 4 expended, including £579,122 invested in the share; and stocks of other companies, leaving a balance of £118,864. OT !OMAN. The report of the directors; states that since the last meeting they had received the Finnan and con cession, and the entire issue of £588,000 debentures had been effected on the terms of the subscription list previously submitted to the Imperial Ottoman Government, and up to the present period £198,000 had been paid in full, while 34 per cent. was paid upon the balance of £320,000. The consolidation of the Government shares, which formed one of the conditions of the new concession, had hem effected, and the capital now consisted of £44,600 shares of £2O each, making £892,000, and of debYetures for £892,000, together £1,784,000, the whole of which had the 6 per cent. guarantee. The entire line be tween Smyrna and Ephesus (48k miles) had been taken over from the contractor, and was now worked and maintained by the company. The directors tes tified as to the energetic manner in which the works were being carried out under the new contract, and were still sanguine that the ultimate traffic results on the finished line would fully equal the original estimates. Mr. E. Clark, the consult ing engineer, Stated in his report that all the tunnel shafts had been sunk without difficulty or inconve nience from water springs, and the heaviest earth works had been commenced, so that there was every probability of the work being completed Withollt , in terruption and within the stipulated time. The re port of Mr. E. Purser, the engineer-in-chief, stated that the remainder of the line (32 miles in length) from Ayasalock to Aidin, was commenced in De- cember last. It included the passage of the moun tain chain which separated the valleys of the rivers Cayster and Meander, and was divided into three sections, the first from Ayasolook to the summit of the past five miles and a half ; the second from the summit of the pass to Balachick, seven miles and a half ; and the third from Balachick to Aidin, 19 miles in the plain. The first section included the tunnel on the summit of the pass between 700 and 800 yards in length, and another short tunnel be tween 100 and 200 yards. The cuttings and em bankments were about 40 in number, generally short, but deep and of hard material. The earth works had been commenced at all the principal points, and for some time past about 500 men had been engaged upon them, and satisfactory progress had been made. The capital account showed that £961,267 had been expended, leaving a balance of £95,804. The traffic receipts for the half year end ing Dec. 31 amounted to £11,598. ASSIZE ETTELLIGENCE, NORTHERN ClRCUlT.—LivEnrooa.—March 24. CROWN COURT. (Before Mr, Justice Willes,) CHARGE 01' MURDER. Narisso Vrumea, 23, a Manilla sailor, was indicted for the murder of Joseph M'Grath, at Liverpool, on the 25th of December. Mr. Deighton and Mr. M'Culloch prosecuted ; Mr. Charles Russell (under the direction of the Spanish consul, who watched the case during the trial) appeared for the prisoner. It will be remembered that the deceased was 22 years of age, and was a dock labourer, residing at 2, Forrest street, in this town. On last Christmas night he was in company with his brother, John M'Grath, his cousin, William M'Grath, and Thomas Gallagher, a labourer, and they all went to Holden's publie•house in Lower Frede rick•street. There they had two quarts of ale, which they drank at the bar, At a quarter to 11 o'clock the prisoner and another coloured seaman, named Lorenzo Carpin, entered the house, and went into a snug at the end of the counter. The prisoner was the shorter man of the two, and wore a billycock hat; and his companion wore a cap. Vrumea and Carpin remained in the snug about five minutes, and then came out towards the door of the public-house. Ac they were walking past the bar William M'Grath staggered a little backwards, knocked against the two sea men, and trod on the toes of one of them. The prisoner, whose foot had been trodden upon, was heard to say, in a threatening manner, "By —, me will have my revenge for that." Tile seaman then left the house, but stood at the door; and according to the evidence of one of the witnesses, Sarah Hardy, the prisoner was waiting and watching with a knife in his hand. Gallagher went to the door, and told them to go away quietly, as no one would molest them, Upon hearing this they turned round and stamped their feet in a passionate manner. Gallagher then rejoined the arGraths, and they all remained drinking in the house until 11 o'clock. Upon leaving the beer-house they found the prisoner and his companion still loitering about the door. The prisoner took hold of the deceased by the shoulders. They struggled a little and the deceased fell. As ho was getting up again the prisoner took a knife out of his pocket and stabbed Joseph M'Grath in the left side of the belly. The screams of the witness Cotton at this moment attracted the attention of the police, and Police• officer John Roberts, 92, came up in time to see the pri soner make three distinct blows at the deceased, one at the belly, which missed him, a second at the same part of the body, and a third, which also missed him. While the pri soner was inflicting these blows upon the deceased Carpin was observed to stab William ltl'Grath. The prisoner after thus stabbing the deceased ran away, but he was pursued by Roberts, who never lost sight of him, and caught him with a sheath knife in his hand. The knife had mud moon it, but no blood marks, and the prisoner dropped it on the ground. The deceased was immediately taken to the South ern Hospital, where it was found that he was suffering from an incised wound on the left groin, through which the whole of the small intestines protruded. There was also a smaller wound about an inch long in the small intestines, On the night of the 26th December he died from excessive hemorr hage and shock to the nervous system, Before his death his deposition was taken in the presence of the prisoner Carpin, and an interpreter, by Mr. Mills, one of the borough magistrates. the deposition ran as follows •—" My name is Joseph M'Grath. lam a dock labourer, living at No. 2, Forrest-street, Liverpool. Last night about ten o'cicck I was with my cousin, William M'Grath, in Lowe' Frederick street, and we went into Holden's public-house, and on com ing out we saw a row. The prisoners and other coloured men like them were engaged in it. We stopped to look on, and one of the two prisoners, I cannot say which, but I am sure it was one of them, turned round, saying, This is one,' and the other prisoner pulled out a knife and struck me with it in my left side, the lower part, and caused the wound I am now suffering from. I fell when I got the stab, and the two prisoners ran off, followed by some of the crowd, who shouted They have killed a man.' I had seen the two pri soners before that night in the publicehouse. They wore drinking together. I did not speak a word to them, and never gave them any provocation. I think they must have taken me for another person. I was about half drunk, but know well what I was doing. I did not see William M'Grath stabbed. I cannot say whether the person said • This is the one,' in English or not, but he pointed to me, and I understood him to mean that I was one. There were other coloured men near me when I was stabbed, but only the prisoners were really near. One of the prisoners only ran at me, and 1 saw the other run towards William M'Grath. The one who seized hold of me had a knife." Mr. Deighton having referred to the statement in open ing the case, and the scuffle in the public-house. His Lordship suggested that the deceased's depositions should at once be put in as evidence, as it would go a long way to reduce the charge to one of manslaughter. It appeared that the prisoner's tees had been trodden on in the public-Louse, and there had been a row and a scuffle outside between the prisoner and deceased, and Carpin and William M'Grath. Under such circumstances the case could hardly be proceeded with as one of murder. M. Russell intimated that the prisoner was willing to plead guilty to a charge of manslaughter ; but his Lordship said manslaughter of this description was so very serious an offence that the prisoner had better not adopt that course The case accordingly proceeded. The evidence was on many points very contradictory. Police-constable Roberts, Thomas Jones (a shoemaker living in Thomas-street), and John Gordon, all swore posi ti.ely that prisoner was the man who struck the deceased. Carpin and the prisoner are very much alike in appearance, the colour of the hair, complexion, and form of features of each being identical. Mr. Russell, in his defence, commented upon this simi larity, and suggested that the witnesses might very possibly have mistaken Carpin for the prisoner. The learned counsel further submitted that the evidence of a common design be tween the men was insufficient for a conviction ; and that if the jury were not satisfied beyond all doubt that it was the erieonei's hand which inflicted the wound they must acquit him altogether. His Lordship, in summing up the evidence, pointed out that, as there had unquestionably been provocation, the jury would find it safer to treat the case as one of manslaughter. Still it could not be too generally known that no person had a right to resort to the use of a deadly weapon upon such slight provocation as was given in this case. A man was not justified in resorting to deadly weapons unless attacked by those weapons, or in fear for his life or property. In case of an attack with such weapons the man so attacked might in self-defence take the life of the person who had inflicted the outrage upon him. But the law did not allow aresort to deadly weapons upon such slight provocation as treading upon the toes or striking a man ot her than with a deadly weapon. Accordingly, if the stab was given by the prisoner in this case he would be guilty of manslaughter. It was, he could not help observing, exceedingly to be regretted that young fellows like the prisoner, coming to this port as sailors, and likely to get into qaarrels in the streets, should be allowed to have their knives abou t them at all, But as the consul had no authority to make a law of that kind it was a pity the subject was not considered with a view to the passing of soma rule which would prevent sailers trom carrying their knives, just as soldiers wer e prevented from going ab o ut with their side arms. No doubt th e possession of the wea pon was a great temptat ion to its use, and resulted some times, as in this case , very seriously. However, as the Court was not to make laws, but to administer th e l aw as it was, the jury must consider the two questions—first, whe ther the prisoner struck the blow from which the deceased died ; and next, suppo sing he did not, was ho acting in concert with the man who did I' The jury, after a short consultation, returned a verdict of guilty. Before sentencing the prisoner, his Lordship expressed a desire that Carpin should be tried, and Carpin was accord ingly arraigned. the charge of felony Wm. M'Grath. g hat Vrumea also Mr. Deighton with drew , and the sentence, first addressed V r umea prisoner's plwrt went tn s r o ta n nb e sy r p NtiVhraeesd namet h i nen thef o o found tc d oa g ut n u r os i Be l y oaf of n dt w h te o h u ca n at s d et i he other nt name was Carpos. The Judge, in passing —You have been convicted of an act which is contrary to the laws of this country, and equally against the laws of Spain or any other country in the world. You have killed ailcter you would unques a maul y a deadly h and, and it is absolutely necessary to c make a severe sxamP le in order to teach sailors that they q u arr el. If 3, m t ou t t un s a t hb not bh r ea e ev s ne o r ab t ep t e o enr t ss h oe e nn i r to ik into n b a i v d esupon r a slight p enal servitude for the remain- h remain der of your days ; but you are a young man, and a person apparently not naturally of a bad disposition. Besides, considering that you area foreigner, you will necessarily suffer more from the sentence of the Court than if you had been a native of the country. Nevertheless, considering by how bad an act you took away the life of M'Grath, you must bavo a most substantial sentence passed upon you. The sentence of the Court upon you is that you be kept in penal servitude for g years. As for you, Lorenz) Carpos, it is fortunate that you have been acquitted of acting in con cert with Vrumea in killing 11'Urath, But you have been convicted of using a knife upon a fellow-creature, and the sentence of the Court upon you is that you be imprisoned and kept to hard labour for 18 calendar months. Mary Teistram, 36, was indicted for the manslaughter of Mary Doran on Feb. 21. It appeared that the deceased, who was an elderly woman, resided in a house in Adlington-street with Isabella Burns and the prisoner. The deceased's daughter lived a short distance from the house in the street, and on the evening in question the deceased went out to spend some hours at her daughter's house. She returned home about 12 o'clock, and while cleaning up her bedroom previous to retiring for the night was interfered with by the prisoner, who told her that that was not the time to do her work. An altercation en sued between the women, in the course of which the de ceased was pushed down the steps of the house into the street, where she fell. The daughter, attracted by her mother's screams, had rushed up to the place and found de ceased on the ground. The medical evidence proved insufficient for a conviction, and his lordship therefore directed an acquittal. Bridget Mooney, 65, and Patrick White, 20, were in dicted for the wilful murder of John Pinder. On the evening of Saturday, 26th Dec. last, the deceased went along with other persons to a publichouse in Coiling wood-street. A disturbance arose in the house about a raffle for a dog, which the deceased alleged he had bought from one of the prisoners. A row ensued, and four persons, of whom two were the prisoners at the bar, struck the de ceased. The deceased then left the house, but at half-past II o'clock, when the prisoners again saw him, they knocked him down, kicked him, and indicted injuries from which it was alleged he died. The case was at first seduced to manslaughter, and as the medical evidence failed even to support this charge, the prisoners were discharged. OXFORD CIRCUIT.—HEREFORD, March 21. CROWN COURT. (Before Mr. Baron Pigott.) Thomas Watkins was indicted for the wilful murder el his wife, Mary Ann Watkins, on the 18th January, al Henuor. _ ... idos , favour with the represent atives of ti, .c....... com.pany. But the more probable theory was th' A water had so mehow or other found its essay i n t 3 the work of insidious agent of mischief. The next questio n 'Was therefore bos s / t h e embankment, and become th e this water got there. It seems. that in making the embankment the engineers hi d taken the earth from the sides of the hills whirl s formed the natural banks of the reservoir, and tics din fact bared these hill sides in some places down. 'to the rock. This was thought by one. witness to be cc, a objectionable pracs tice, inasmuch as the water i n ,the basin, being thus brought into immediate cont.sct with the livi , ag rocks /s light find its way thrones fissures to the slop of the embankment. The pis !sence of water there fore at that dangerous pain t might be accsstinted for on t his hypothesis. Again., if the m ateri.als used in the construction of the embanktninat were inju diciously selected or improperly laid, the water .nigh a gradually find an opening for mischief. Oa the w.hole, however, it seems to have been thought more probable that the catastroph a was occasioned by sm ile failure of the pipes ; indee , , the only wit" ness wlxo was bold enough to give a decided opinion to that effect. These male t pipes for the conveyan gvaeit t ce and trans mission of the water were car ried. at Br adfield tinder the embank, ment, and there was certain ly a concur' ence of opinion as to the un soundness ana danger of that practice, which e ven nun-professional persons can easily understand. If pipes. were always sound, and could be always so laid as to be liable to injury and create no danger , it would be safe enoug h to carry tilem through the embankment, but the y appear to be liable to as naany accidents as the flues of a at eve, and the en?" banknnent therefore is no place for them. To begin with --they cannot in such a position be inspected or rep aired, but besides that disadvantage they are actual ly more liable to injury from t he uncertain and often. unequal pressure of an artHcial earthwork . Her, e, at Bradfield, were about 500 feet of pipings mad a up of some 55 lengths of 9 fes tt each, and con' sequ ently with a long series of join ts. Now, if the pipe s in any part were fractured, or a joint any' whe re drawn, the water might be let loose for the grad:nal destruction of the bank, aa'd it is obvious that an unequal settlement of the earth might readily produce this mischief. Even if the pipes were unevenly pressed down or distorted the same result might occur, and this theory of the calamity therefore assumes great likelihood. Mr. Jackson , an engineer of great Australian experience, spoke out quite plainly on the point. " I have not the least doubt," said he, " that the structure of the Bradfiel6 dam caused an unequal pressure, fractured the pipe es and so produced a leakage." When it was suggest ,ea that the outlet pipes might now be uncovered and examined, the witness added "If this is done you will find it as I say." To this suggestion there was the obvious objection that now, after the cats' strophe, it would be impossible to distinguish be' tween injuries which had caused and injuries s vbich had followed it, and therefore the point could not I thus be summarily decided. Still the Governmen t engineer himself, though he distinctly declined to a ive a positive opinion, seems to have inclined t° t t ese views. "My opinion," said he, "is that it ssa s the most fatal mistake to lay the pipes in the ten tre of the embankment upon an artificially compressible material." This reasoning be clear even to non-professional readers, bu t, terra will led' i n j a , tice to the constructors of the reservoir, w e shout, d add Mr. Jackson's remarks upon the custom refebrai 'd to. " I," said he, " have carried pipes unde r m That has been the universal practic e erllaments. until n t 'W. There has been no great dinersr frog' i t unt il i tow. It has been an error of judgment coin* mitted Is . v the most eminent engineers. I should no r ' after w s at has occurred here, again lay pip es under or t hrough an embankment. I should felt s the water ,through the solid, round the end of the embankme t 't, by culverts or otherwise." Probablythis explan a lion will commend itself to the publi c as the best s ,htainable, but Mr. Rawlinson e numem rated the cau't 'es which might have been at work' without attens pting to identify any one with co n ' fidence as the . real agent of mischief, and the jury accepted the us ncertainty. They simply said in general terms that "there bad not been that eng" veering skill and that attention to the constructs/ of the works which their importance demanded and with those wcsr ds they passed to topics on who' it was safer to speak with decision. 'aley recorir mended, as we ha ye stated, a system of Govern: ment inspection, an d expressed their deep regret el the terrible fatality of the catastrophe which ho e occurred. In this feeling of sympathy and s orrel the public, will entirely concur, and our colunin go indeed, have shown that the compassion of the country has already fonnd a practical expression in timely and munific,ent succour. COUNTRY MARKETS. -- WAKEFIELD—TitURSDA.Y. The market is rather of a holiday character. 'Wheat VI quiet, at last Friday's quotations. Barley met a EON" sale, and maintained former prices. Beans were r ather cheaper. STAMFORD—THURSDA.Y. Our market was held to-day (to-morrow being v' r 1 i. ° Friday). The supply of wheat was meagre, and, with dull inquiry, last week's prices were unaltered. White wheat, 40s to 425; red, 37s to 40s per 36 stool Barley, malting, 33s to 35s ; grinding, 29 s to 32 s p et ~ ,r e l f ‘ Oats, 18s to 228 per 24 stone. Beans, old, 40s to -- 0 r qr. ; new, 34s to 365. LINCOLN—THURSDAY. Good Friday interfering with the regular market ( ?1,; wheat came sparingly to hand. Sales were made at P. rates. 3 01 White wheat new, 41s to 44s Barley, grinding.. 29s to 4 , Red do. 3ls to 408 Oats, old, .. 23s to `„', Old white —a to —s New do 19s to 2*,, Red do. — a to —s ( Beans 4os to 4 a ,Y" Barley, malting.... 32s to 3Qs f Beans, new 34s to 3"" CORK -THURSDAY, • e a The following were the quotations this morning :••••••• b. wheat, 8s Od to 8s 10d; white, 8s Od to 9a 8d , barleY/ 6d to 8s Od ; oats, 4s 10d to 6s 2d ; black do., 4s 4c l 5s M. Foreign Mail Packet List. MAILS DUE. „; 8 ' Australia and Mauritius, via Southampton .. ia-P•i i , l'; via £larseilie. APri', 6, ;;mail and Cape Verde, by British packet. AprP ao ~i i e of Good Hope, Ascension, and Si. Helena., Mar. ' 3 :Ana, Penang, and Singapore, via Southanapton.Apr il o, via Marseilles Mar' Valkland Islands s . Gibraltar, via Southampton Mar.,. 3 India (Calcutta), and Ceylon, via Southampton AP r°, 2s , viz Marseilles Ma r ' 0 India (Bombay), via Southampton mar. 0, via Marseilles mar. b , Portugal.... Alalta, E - g gypt, and Aden, via Southampton ar. .73 via Marseilles Newfoundland ..Ap tlh Oporto and Vigo .. U. S. and British N. America, by Brit. packet.... Mar' 24 by U.S. packet.... by Canadian packet.gor:, 10 , W.C. of Africa, Madeira, and Teneriffo April / Bahamas, via New York , APr il $0 Mexico • • • .Igsr . 50 I.li parts of West Indies, including Chili, Peru, k %ar. California. and British Columbia.. (ADVERTISEMENT.] —Holloway's PHIL—No Public opinion speaks in no feeble or uncertain voie° cerning the merits of these pills for purifying 02 012 ;04 regulating the action of different organs, and strengtheved the human body generally. Holloway's pills have P i g e• a reputation for curing disorders of the stomach, derti",of ments of the liver, diseases of the kidneys, and affeeii °ll ol the brain and nerves, previously unexampled in the 1 1,0 of medicine. An important matter regarding these P i t i o s o that the invalid, by reading the accompanying dir ec ioti for use, can determine the proper dose with a Pr ee ," which no one could hope to attain who had not long Il th " ti his habits and constitution. Holloway's pills act vri`" utmost safety and greatest efficiency. 0* [OO SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS, On his arraignment the prisoner at first pleaded guilty His lordship thereupon asked him whether he would rather have the case legally proved against him, or would persevere in his plea of guilty. The prisoner then said at first that he did not care, for he was guilty, but afterwards that he would leave it to his lordship to do what was best for him. His lordship directed a plea of not guilty to be recorded, and then inquired of the prisoner if he had attor ney or counsel, to which the prisoner replied in the nega tive. The learned counsel who 'appeared fur him then ex plained that the prisoner's mother had spoken to him about the defence, and that a gentleman, an attorney, was arrang ing with the mother about his instructions. His lordship asked the prisoner if he wished his mother to procure him legal assistance. He said he did not; and his lordship, after explaining that unless the mother was the prisoner's agent so to do, she could not insist upon his accepting legal assist ance of her procuring, asked the prisoner if he should assign him counsel, to which he replied that it should be as his lordship pleased, for he was guilty. Ultimately the matter was arranged to stand over, and when the prisoner was put on his trial it was found that he had availed himself of the services of the learned counsel provided for him by his mother. From the evidence it appeared that the prisoner had been serving in the Marines for about a year and a half, and had deserted his regiment about four months since. When he went into the service he left his wife and three children behind him, who received relief from the Leomin ster Union. She lodged at the house of George Smith of Hamnieh, and assisted to support herself and children by acting as a charwoman. When the prisoner returned after deserting his regiment he did nothing to support her, but used to come to her at her lodgings and stay three or four days at a time, and then go away for a fortnight or so On hearing of prisoner's return the board of guardians of the union, with a view to determine on the purchase of his dis charge from the Marines and to make him contribute to his wife's support, ordered her to attend before them. On Jan. 5 she did so, and was examined about it. The meeting was adjourned, and she was ordered to attend again that day fort night, which would be the day atter the murder took place, and her pay was ordered to be continued up to that time. On Thursday, Jan. 14, prisoner called at the house of Mrs. Rebecca Martin, who lives in Leominster, and told her that his wife had been before the gentlemen of the board, and had said everything against him in her power, and that she had to appear again on the Tuesday, and he knew that she meantto say all she could against him, and declared with an oath that she should never have the chance to say anything against hm any more. On Sunday, the day before the murder the prisoner was seen with a big stick, which he termed a " keep-safe." On Monday, the 10th, the deceased woman had been washing for Lane, a gardener, at his cottage, which was about a mile from Smith's house, where she lodged. In order to gofrom Lane's cottage home her way lay along a path which passed through a field at the distance of about 500 yards from Lane's, and then over a stile and along the top of a ploughed field under a hedge which separated the ploughed field from an orchard, and then over another stile in the corner of the ploughed field into a turnip-field. Lane returned home along this path at about a quarter before six o'clock in the evening, with his dog, and when about 100 yards from the turnip-field corner of the ploughed field his dog growled. Lane saw nothing and went home. The de ceased left his cottage for home soon afterwards. She was carrying in her hand a packet of dripping, and she was seen going alone along the path two fields from the cottage. At about half-past six a little boy at a house about three fields from where the body of the deceased was afterwards found heard two screams, and told a milkwoman of it, but as no more were heard she thought nothing of it. At about ten o'clock that night as a man named Lipscombe was going along the path in the direction of Lane's he heard a kw moaning noise, and led by it found in the corner of the ploughed field near the stile leading into the turnip-field about three yards off the path, the body of the deceased lying on her face in a pool of blood. He called in Lane, and with him and a lantern went back to the spot where the deceased was, and then carried her to Leominster workhouse, where she died, without rallying the following afternoon. She had received bruises, as if made with a stick, on the forehead and shoulder; and at the back of the head she had received a very violent blow which had broken the skull, and caused the very brain to pro trude. The surgeon stated that no blow could have been given upwards with sufficient force to cause this, and he therefore interred that it was given when she had been knocked down, or was in a kneeling posture. The police made a close examination of the ground where the body was found, and they discovered the marks of a wooden boot or clog, with a peculiar rim of iron round it on the sole, making a fresh sharp mark, and of a pointed shape. In the field through which the path went, on Lane's side of the ploughed field, and before entering it, was a bank with marks as of a person having sas down, and the clog marks were clear there. At this spot the marks of a woman's boot were seen to join those of the man's clogs, and these con tinued backwards and forwards, and up to the place where the body was found. In the orchard, over the hedge of the ploughed field, were the marks of the clogs, as if the wearer had been walking up and down. The police instituted a careful search for the foot-prints on the morning following the murder, and traced them from a place called Slaughter Castle, a mile or a mile and a half distant, up to the spot where the body was found. Thence they traced them in a circuitous course past Slaughter's Castle to Gorstey-hill, and then again in a retrograde direction, until on the Thursday they came up to the prisoner talking at the door of a cottage near Eardisland, and took him into custody, 1 and found clogs on his feet which made precisely the print they had been tracking. In the course of the investigation the tracks had been followed to several cottages, and the persons living at them were called, who deposed to the prisoner having been there and had conversation with them. He had been at the house of a person named Strangwood, at Slaughter Castle, between five and six o'clock on the evening of the murder; and at about eight o'clock on the same evening he was talking with a person named Griffiths about the meeting of the board on the fol lowing day. At half-past 8 o'clock he had a conversation with a Mrs. Harris about the same circumstance, and told her that his wife had done everything to get him taken, and that she had brought down his regimental number and shown it to a policeman—and as he was leaving her kitchen he told one of her children not to move, as he would never touch any of them, and said that he would never murder any of them. At a quarter to 9 o'clock he was at Mrs. Pott's cottage, and said that he must go to Leominster to see about his being got off the soldiering. From half-past 9 to 10 o'clock he was with a person named Jones, who lived at Rowley's cottage, and he told him that he was going to Smith's to get his wife to live with him. He was then crying. On the Wednesday he told a Mrs. Haines that he was afraid of being detected for having deserted. On Wednesday night he got a man named Thomas Smith to allow him to sleep with him. Smith asked him if he had heard of the murder, and said he had heard it was an old soldier they -blamed for it. The prisoner then said that he knew that old soldier, and he was very fond of his wife. Smith said he had heard that the old soldier had almost killed her. Prisoner asked if he had not quite killed her. Smith told him he had heard not—but he pitied the woman. The prisoner said it did not matter, she was not of much account. On the next day (Thursday) a Mr. Nash, at whose house the prisoner had asked to light his pipe, said to him, in the course of a conversation which he commenced about the murder, that the man was a villain to take the axe to the woman—to which remark the prisoner replied that it was not an axe, it was a stake. Smith then said, that it would be a blcz sing if the woman should live to tell who it was, and he replied that she couldn't do so, for she was past that. He left her, and while he was talking at the door of a cottage close by the police came up, who had tracked him from house to house, and from the morning of Tuesday up to that time. The defence was an endeavour to excite a suspicion that the woman might have given sufficient provocation to the prisoner to reduce the silence from murder to man slaughter. His Lordship, in summing up, said there was nothing in the evidence .o ground any au h supposition upon, and that as no means of off nce were ever seen upon her, it was the rather negatived ; that if the jury believed the evidence, it could be nothing short of murder, and the only question for them was whether the prisoner was the man who committed the crime. the Jury found a verdict of guilty. The learned Judge, having assumed the black cap, and silence being proclaimed, briefly and solemnly passed sen tence of death. The business of the assizes was concluded to-day. HERALD.—The adverseriea of Punch are com monly dispatched by a single blow. To prevent misunderstanding we should observe that by this mention of Punch we are not referring to the Whiggish jester of Fleet-street, the objects of whose satire rather gain than lose vitality through his attaeks, but to ais more ancient and less serious pro totype of streets in general. The adversaries of Punch, then, are commonly dispatched by a single blow. Sometimes, however, there arises a hostile puppet, whose head seems fashioned of such ex ceptionally thick wood that he resists for a time the might of the universal destroyer. Punch deals him a smart rap with his cudgel, and fancying that he has terminated his existence, adopts his usual course of following up murder with a song. Scarcely, however, has he begun to chant his pecan, when the foeman starts up from another side of the show and boxes his ears. Another blow that might have cleft a wig-block is the result, but leads to no more satisfactory consequences. Again, again, pops up the intrusive figure, whose very tenacity of life is a serious insult to the grotesque doll-slayer, and it is not till he has received a good half-dozen bangs that he gives up the ghost—that is to say, suffers the invisible showman to withdraw his vivifying hand. To this vigorous puppet a strong likeness , may be found in a barrister-at-law named Pater, who has lately been making himself very conspie cuous at the Middlesex Sessions. That large edifice which so nobly ornaments Clerkenwell-green, and commands so fine a view of the broad land con verted into a desert by the destruction of ancient rookeries, is not exactly the place where gentlemen of the whig and gown expect to gain forensic celebrity, nor does the theft of six knives, six forks, a stock, a die, a plough plane , and six irons seem to afford one of those themes for eloquence which can cause the gates of immor tality to fly open at the voice of the orator. How ever if a man is to be considered great who acquires fame by making use of favourable oppor tunities, what must be the intelleetnel magnitude of the aspirant who leaps into a notoriety with scarcely any opportunity at all ? It is a clever feat to catch Occasion by the forelock, but when Occasion has but a single hair on his brow, to hold him fast by that is a proof of genius indeed. Such g enius dis tinguishes Mr. Pater. On Tuesday last ► la unfor tunate cabinet-maker was tried before Mee Payne for stealing the articles above enumerated, a nd Mr, Pater undertook his defence. While engaoed in the cross-examination of one of the witnessa e for the prosecution the learned gentleman seems to rave been carried a little beyond ordinary bounds by his zeal for his client's interests, and the foreman' of the jury hazarded the remark that he had no rig.ht to insinuate that the witness was not speaking t he truth. Here was Occasion's single hair—" I than k God that there is more than one juryman to deter mine whether the prisoner stole the property with which be is charged, for if there was only one, and that one the foreman, from what has transpired to day there is no doubt what the result would be." Thus spake Mr. Pater; nor did Mr. Payne's remark that the sprecb was improper check the torrent of eloquence. Oa it flowed with greater force than ever, As the little boy, who has been ill-used by some tyrant of the streets, runs down a neigh bouring alley to fetch his " big brother," so did Mr. Payne hurry into the adjoining court to ask the Assistant Judge, Mr. Bodkin, what was to be done with such a very spirited counsellor. Mr. Bodkin declines to interfere till the case is over, but Mr. Pater is warned that wnen his client's business is settled the dignity of the bench will shine Forth in all its glory and awe the contumacious. Mr. Pater is not the man to meet terror half way. With infinite courage he proceeds to remark that a fresh juryman ought to be appointed in the place of the foreman ; and when he is told by Mr. Payne that he is only repeating his former . insults, he grandiloquently asserts , " I shall continue to do so till the end of time"--a bold figure of speech, which shows that Mr. Pater, secure of an undying oame, had confounded it with an undying bony and imperishable lungs; and which menace must have rendered the jury excessively uneasy as to the pro bable hour of dinner. It is, h oweve r, pleasing to record that gratitude to his liker is always an up permost sentiment in Mr. Pater's mind. " I thank God," said he, " that I have dischaested my duty to my client to the best of my ability, and this I shall continue to do as long as I have the honour to weer a wig and gown." At last the sublime floe° of Mr. Bodkin, radiant with judicial majesty, appeers in the court, but Mr. Pater is not dazzled. The As sistant Judge declares that the language addressezi to the foreman is perfectly unjustifiable, and recom mends Mr. Payne to treat it as a contempt of court, and impose a fine of £2O, But Mr. Pater is not silenced. He refuses to withdraw his observations, and the fine being actually imposed by Mr. Payne, he rises with new determination, and as if he would head a mutiny of counsellors, declares that the opinion he has formed of him (11'ir. Payne) is shared by every member of the bar. This move proves a lamentable failure ; a rebellion, "auspice Patre ' " is not at all to the taste of the barristers , and Mr. Wood and Mr. Abram hasten to declare that the paternal sentiments are not their own; but Mr. Pater is not crushed—" I shall bring the affair under the notice of Sir George Grey," says he to Mr. Payne, " and very probably your removal from the bench will be the result." if Hotspur thought it way' an easy leap to pluck bright honour from the pale-ficed moon," why should Mr. Pater find any ch . :cannily in jumping into the Home Secretary's office to null down a magistrate ? The sun of Tuesday set, late! we doubt whether sleep visited the couch of Mr. Peter. Doubtless he meditated, not unpleased, on defect:, that had made him more conspicuous than a merely ordinary vic tory, and having tasted the sweets of notoriety he rushed into court on Wednesday morning to renew the delight. There he found, not only Mr. ljayne, nut Mr. Bodkin, and then recommenced his att.'ck. Now the very best story loses its point when it is told for the second time to precisely the same audi ence ; and we must say that the effect produced by Mr. Pater on the Wednesday fell far short of the great sensation of the preceding day. He asked whether his words to the foreman had been taken down, and whether they constituted a contempt of Court ; and beieg informed that he bad been told so lready, repeated his declaration that he did not intend to withdraw his remarks. "You are repeat ing what you did yesterday, icily observed the Assistant Judge. "We will go on with the busi ness, if you please." . Decidedly this second day's work was a mistake. All that could be gained— namely, notoriety—had been already secured, and further fighting was a mere waste of powder and ehot, On l'uesday Mr. Pater was a hero, though on the wrong side : oz Wednesday he is a bore. TIMES.—The verdict of the coroner's jury in the terrible case of the Sheffield catastrophe will not sur prise those who are acquainted wish the subject, or who have attentively perused the evidence taken at the inquest. It expresses rather a general convic tion than a definite certainty ; it imputes no crimi nal neglect, but it records imperfections of weal ; and then it passes into a free and unrestrained delivery of opinion on points more clearly within view. The jury did not pretend to decide how or why the Bradfield Reservoir had actually burst, but they did deplore the calamity which had ensued, and they conceived that a regular system of inspec tion, under the authority of Government, should be so devised as to prevent such disasters in future. The question possesses an extraordinary interest, but it is necessarily obscured to some extent by the technicality of the details involved. The witnesses at the inquest were engineers, and they gave their evidence on a point of engineering in engineering language. It was desired to ascertain, if possible, from what cause or causes the embankment which confined the water in the Bradfield Reservoir had given way. That it did give way, and thus let loose the flood which created such appalling havoc, was beyond a doubt ; the only question was, hcw the failure occurred. Oar readers have learnt by this time the nature of the original work. The reservoir was formed by closing up the open end of a valley already closed by natural banks on every side bat that one. An artificial embank ment, therefore, completed the basin, and in this basin the waters were stored. They were gathered by natural drainage from the surrounding dis trict, and could be contained in. the reservoir to the extent of 114,000,000 cubic feet. Perhaps, if we say that the surface of the water represented an area of 78 acres, we shall be giving the beet idea of the size and contents of the basin. All this water had to be kept in its artificial bed by the embank ment across the open end of the valley, and on the strength, construction, and sufficiency of this barrier everything depended. The other day it burst, and the public knows what followed. From the evidence given at the inquest we learn not so much what dtd cause the catastrophe as what might nave caused it. Independent witnesses, as welt as the engineers of the Waterworks Company, de-: scribed the embankment itself as sufficientin dimen sions and solidity, though certain imperfections were indicated he its construction. Indian engineers, as our readers have seen, look with surprise at the puny scale of our earthworks compared wi , h those of the great tanks in Hindustan and the Deccan; out according to European notions of hydraulics, it seems that the Bradfield embankment was fairly designed. Nobody imagined, in tact, that it had given way from mere inherent weakness; its failure, beyond a doubt, was due to the op rat' ion of some undermining influence to which iu was exposed. One suggestion was that the disaster as owing to a landslip underneath the embenkmeet, which NO destroyed its foundations; and as this esoald tend to ezempt everybody from blame, it naturally found Births. CHRISTIE.—On the 24th inst., at Hoddesdon, wife of Charles P. Christie, Esq., of a son. t 4 vie ° ,4 MEEILING.—On the 24th inst., at 4, Eaton-P. B Belgrave-square, the wife of Charles bleekilg 9 J or' a son. s volv h . WARD.—On the 23d inst., at Oaklands, near 4018 hamptou, the wife of Henry Ward, Esq., of e ter. Marriages. V tlr°l CoxitrA.D—LortsDALE.—On the 24th inst., av i‘to Islington, William Frederick, only son o f the :we Charles Coxhead, of Bith, to Amy, fifth daub , Mr. Lonsdale, of Islington. 0/00 01 MARTIN—WAKEFIELD.—On the 24th inst.„ptl" 0 :11 0 11, 6 Josiah, eldest son of Mr. J. Martin, of Wilm c 7 gr.- Dalston, to Caroline Mary, younger daughter 0. Wakefield, Gloucester-road, Islington. .5110 , Deaths. DOUGLAS.—On the 19th inst., at Haliford -on- Miss Agnes Douglas, aged 7 9 . or . 51°' EYRE.—On the 23d inst , , at Farnham , SurraYr .`"-- Eyre, aged 82. ci feli trit TS.— HODGETOn the 22d inst. , at Finley, near " (3 i Miss Hodgetts, aged 96. ..,, olt '. LAWAENCE —On the 23 d inst., at Park-hill , Live'r° 1 ,, i -re tiiel Lawn rice, Es q , a ged 75. Key.—On the 22d inst. , at Manchester-street, m f --- biol i widow of the late William Kay , Esq., R ' id ~0 3i 0 minster, aged 69. ~,,r , . Devi P LONG.—On the 19th inst., at Broom-lane, lw•• g, agcd 2. v Ail P e° BanLEn. —Oathe 24th inst. , at 133, Holborn -A-- ' A. Ridler, aged 71. ."------------------"--""-'-". _ _ _--- - 4 2 ' London: Prilized and Prbhshed ny 17-V-11-1,-lilg b2Tiii°o:'lAfi of No. 112, Stl•and, Printer, at IEIE SUN ()LU C ', 0 4 1' Strand, 'U the Precinct of the `Savoy' in the 0 Wialefiez.—Saturday, March 20,_1501.